Since the end of A Place to Call Home and Wentworth, Foxtel has been lacking a quality Aussie drama. That has now been solved with The Twelve (Tuesday on FoxShowcase), a classy and compelling 10-part courtroom drama that is impossible to switch off.
Jury dramas are very hot right now on Australian TV, with Nine still to screen After The Trial, a six-part series starring Sullivan Stapleton and Magda Szubanski. Good luck with that, because The Twelve sets the bar very, very high.
Brooke Satchwell, Brenda Cowell, Hazem Shammas and Pallavi Sharda, to name just a few, play the jurors, and each has their own backstory. Even better, Kate Mulvaney, who was rudely killed off at the start of RFDS (7Plus), now lives as the prime suspect.
Marta Dusseldorp and Sam Neill lead the prosecution and defence, and it’s easy to see them returning for another series, with a brand new jury, should Foxtel want another case. They would be mad not to – huge thumbs up.
The same team behind Reef Live is whipping up a new TV event for this year’s winter solstice. Southern Ocean Live (Tuesday on ABC), hosted by Hamish Macdonald and What The Duck podcast host Dr Ann Jones, head to Phillip Island to investigate the underwater lives of sharks, whales, seals and giant spider crabs.
Of course, no visit to Phillip Island is complete without some fairy penguins, and they even get their own spin-off series. Meet The Penguins (Tuesday 28 June on ABC) looks at colonies in both Phillip Island and St Kilda over six months, as penguins try to partner up and raise a chick. Delightful.
Julia Zemiro with Ray Martin
The final four episodes of Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery (Sunday on ABC) are supersized to run for 50 minutes, as opposed to the previous eight series of half hour instalments. Guests include Ray Martin, Marcia Hines and Stephen Page, and a final episode with Julia Zemiro doing her own home delivery, with special guests Justine Clarke and Costa Georgiadis.
It is a bit cheeky to call Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears (Sunday on ABC) a mini-series, when it is actually the 2020 movie, split into two parts. Conveniently, the 1 hour and 40 minute movie even splits perfectly into two TV episodes.
Michael Parkinson
And last week on our podcast (listen HERE), I mentioned that Parkinson in Australia (iview) might only have 14 episodes to repeat, given the ABC only produced 14. Parky was such a success, it was snapped up by commercial TV, but consider me corrected, because the ABC also has rerun rights to Ten’s Parkinson (1981 – 1983), which flew in international guests to sit alongside the Aussies. Check them out.
Mercado’s Mediaweek Podcast
Mercado & Manning on TV: The Twelve, DI Ray, Magpie Murders, Home Delivery, WDYTYA?
A brand new episode of the now weekly TV podcast from Mediaweek’s Andrew Mercado and James Manning. This week the shows being reviewed include Foxtel’s new drama The Twelve, the UK crime drama DI Ray on SBS, a Britbox Original Magpie Murders, a sneak peek at BBC First’s Sherwood plus new seasons of Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery on ABC, and Who Do You Think You Are? on SBS.
Andrew’s Retro TV pick is Flash Gordon on 10Play.
Listen online on the Mediaweek website here.
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Remember to subscribe/follow to get news about all the episodes – now weekly with bonus episodes.
This week’s bonus episode was Hugh Marks and Carl Fennessy talking about their new production business Dreamchaser.